Metered Access

Crain's Detroit Business is a metered site. Print and digital subscribers have unlimited access to stories, but registered users are limited to eight stories every 30 days. After viewing three metered stories, you'll be asked to register or log in. After eight more stories in 30 days, you'll be asked to subscribe.

Encana spokeswoman Bridget Ford said the company follows state regulations on use of groundwater for exploration.

County resident Paul Brady said the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality doesn't adequately regulate fracking wells and the large volumes of water they use.

"It's extremely irresponsible to allow the withdrawal of our groundwater at such a magnitude without any type of cumulative impact study being done," Brady said.

Rick Henderson is a field operations supervisor for the state agency and says it pays close attention to drillers' groundwater use.

"We are concerned with ... any water use like that," said Rick Henderson, a field operations supervisor for the DEQ's Office of Oil, Gas and Minerals. "Under no circumstances are we going to allow an adverse resource impact."

Frac Focus, a nonprofit group created by industry and environmentalists to provide factual information on hydraulic fracturing activity, has a website that allows energy companies to publicly document details about their wells, including water usage. It shows that three Encana wells now operating in Kalkaska County wells have used 42 million gallons of groundwater over two years.